Filming now underway for locally shot TNT pilot

A familiar sight–film production signs–popped up around town this week, this time for the TNT pilot, ‘Good Behavior.’ Crews set up at Independence Mall Thursday in advance of filming at nearby Cape Fear Country Club. Photo by Hilary Snow.

A little lights, camera and action have returned to Wilmington.

After the loss of three major productions, the Port City’s film industry is back at it, at least for the next couple of weeks, as shooting for the TNT pilot “Good Behavior” gets into full swing.

Set in North Carolina and starring Michelle Dockery of “Downton Abbey,” “Good Behavior” is based off Blake Crouch’s bestselling Letty Dobesh book series. Fresh out of prison, Dobesh (Dockery), a thief and con artist, finds herself entangled in a hired hitman’s plan to kill another man’s wife.

The pilot recently got a boost in funding for the project from the state’s film grant fund. According to the N.C. Department of Commerce, up to $1.25 million of the current $5 million pot of grant money has been earmarked for “Good Behavior.”

Filming got underway earlier this week, with “walk and talk” scenes along Market Street between Water and Front streets.

Crews made it rain, using special effects, Wednesday outside the Carolinian Inn on Market Street. Cameras were firing the same day at a downtown restaurant, Manna, to capture some interior and exterior dialogue scenes between two cast members, with about 40 extras on set.

And a handful of actors and extras performed some dialogue scenes Thursday inside Cape Fear Club on Chestnut Street downtown.

Filming will pick back up again overnight on Monday at Cape Fear Country Club in the Forest Hills area. According to a film permit filed with the City of Wilmington, the scenes will involve some prop gunfire.

Production crews have been in the area since early September, setting up offices at EUE/Screen Gems Studios, Johnny Griffin, director of the Wilmington Film Commission, said.

“Like all pilots, you wait and see if it gets picked up…and then wait and see whether it can be produced here,” Griffin noted in an earlier interview.

Still, it’s hopeful news for Wilmington’s film industry,which has taken some major hits in recent months. Both the Fox series “Sleepy Hollow” and ABC’s “Secrets and Lies” announced their departure from the area this year. And in September, CBS decided to cancel its locally filmed sci-fi show, “Under the Dome.”

Although they let the film incentive program expire , state lawmakers have thrown some support at the industry, upping the funding for the film grant fund from $10 million to $30 million annually in the 2015-17 budget.